WROUGHTON folk fear elderly and less mobile people living at the northern end of the village could find it more difficult to get about after changes in bus stops and timetables come into force.

It has emerged that the stop in Kellsboro Avenue is set to be taken away and temporary stops put up in Wharf Road on grass verges have been dubbed ridiculous.

Officials from Swindon Borough Council were yesterday due to take a look at the new stops, which have been fixed to telegraph poles, and report back.

“I think the ridiculous bus stops will change because the people responsible for them will see how ridiculous they are,” said Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn, one of the parish councillors who have queried the changes with Stagecoach and the borough council.

Neither had hard-standing and one had a ditch behind it, which could be a hazard in winter when the ground was muddy.

The stops provoked a lively debate on Wroughton social media sites. One woman said they would not be safe for her disabled grandson, who uses a wheelchair. Another who suffers from fibromyalgia said she did not have a car and found walking very hard in the winter.

One man suggested: “The speed at which people approach the village from junction 16 makes it inevitable that there will be a fatal accident at some point in the near future as there are no footpaths to the new stops and people will have to cross Wharf Road on a blind bend.”

What troubled Talis more in the long run was the fact that people living in North Wroughton would have to walk further to catch a bus.

“That whole section of the village is full of elderly people and families with children,” she told the Advertiser. “Now they are all going to have to walk to the edge of the village.”

Residents had been telling her they would not be able to walk that far. Others had problems with the changed timetables. “People are saying they don’t know how they are going to get to work,” she said. “That’s the sort of story I’m hearing.”

Bus operators expect the new routes will increase the number of passengers from Wichelstowe and the service passing the Waitrose store there is expected to be popular.

Wroughton parish councillors are set to meet bus company officials for talks on Monday about the changes.

In the meantime Talis has created a neighbourhood bus use survey to gather data from people who use the services on how the timetable changes will affect them and what would persuade them to use the services more often.

It can be found online at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JX2K2N8